Chapter 95: Annihilating Nanyue Mianhuang, Absolutely Not Human Offspring
Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Annihilating Nanyue Mianhuang, Absolutely Not Human Offspring
"You’re not going to kill me?"
Zhu Ge was taken aback, inwardly mulling over the words spoken by the man who was now the Cold Snow Official.
The man before him was the picture of elegance, with fair skin, handsome features, and a slender frame. His posture and expression were bewitching; upon closer inspection, he was even more beautiful than most women.
’Someone like him must have a good family background.’
"Why would I kill you? I originally came here to kill Dai Yuanqing—oh, that is, the Raincoat Fisherman."
The Cold Snow Official smiled and shook his head.
"But I found out he was already dead along the way, so I decided to take care of some other business. I never expected to run into a little guy like you..."
’Little guy?’
Zhu Ge eyed the man before him. Based on looks alone, he seemed to be about the same age as him.
But he knew better than to judge someone’s Cultivation or age by their appearance.
"Then may I ask, sir, what brings you here?" Zhu Ge asked, cupping his hands in a fist-and-palm salute.
The Cold Snow Official gave a light wave of his hand. "Sit, sit, don’t be so formal," he said with a smile. "Make yourself at home. Let’s sit and talk."
As he spoke, the Cold Snow Official sat right down, unconcerned about the dirt and dust on the ground.
’Make myself at home?’
’This is my turf, isn’t it?’ Zhu Ge sat down with a strange look on his face, while Liu Jianjian beside him sat down in a daze.
"Since that colleague of mine is dead, and I find you rather to my liking, we ought to celebrate with wine!"
The Cold Snow Official looked delighted. He grinned at the empty space beside Zhu Ge. "Guyu Official, I recall you’re fond of wine. On an occasion like this, why not grace us with a few large jars?"
’Guyu Official?’
Zhu Ge froze. Before he could even process what the Cold Snow Official meant, he abruptly sensed another person right beside him.
This person seemed to have been there the whole time, ever since he’d started his martial arts practice. It was only now, with the Cold Snow Official’s mention, that Zhu Ge noticed him.
He’d had absolutely no presence before!
’When did he get here...?’ The realization made the hairs on Zhu Ge’s arms stand on end, and he nearly leaped to his feet.
A person like this could kill him without a sound, before he even knew what was happening.
Getting killed is getting killed, but there’s a world of difference between being assassinated stealthily and being killed in a direct confrontation.
"Alas..." The youth beside him carried a lantern on his shoulder, a faint flame flickering within. He wore a miserable expression.
The youth said nothing, merely waving a hand to produce two wine jars that emanated a rich, sweet aroma.
"Haha, my colleague here isn’t much of a talker. Let’s just pour for ourselves," the Cold Snow Official said with a laugh. "He is the Guyu Official. He’s in charge of records, a member of the Shi Family, tasked with chronicling the history of the world—its cycles of prosperity and decline."
’The Shi Family!’
’The Guyu Official!’
Zhu Ge was shaken to his core.
"Here, this one’s for you." The Cold Snow Official handed him a wine bowl. Then, with a flick of his wrist, wine from a nearby jar leaped into the bowl as if drawn by a waterspout.
"The Raincoat Fisherman was a Jingzhe Official, and you two are the Cold Snow and Guyu Officials. Does this mean there are twenty-four official posts in the world?" Zhu Ge asked, accepting the bowl without hesitation.
Seeing Zhu Ge’s poised and respectful demeanor, the Cold Snow Official’s eyes lit up with appreciation.
"The Human Race has only ten such positions, not twenty-four," the Cold Snow Official said with a smile. "What I can tell you is that the Raincoat Fisherman wasn’t a true Jingzhe Official. Or, to be precise, he was the Jingzhe Official of the Da Sheng Dynasty, not of the Human Race."
’Of the Da Sheng Dynasty, not the Human Race?’
Zhu Ge latched onto that distinction, his expression thoughtful.
The Cold Snow Official chuckled. "The Jingzhe Official oversees taxes? No. The Jingzhe Official of the Human Race oversees farming and agriculture. It is a post held by one of the Agrarians."
"It is simply that things have changed within the Da Sheng Dynasty. The contemporary Jingzhe Official delegated his responsibilities, which led to the notion of some Jingzhe Officials overseeing taxation."
’So the Jingzhe Official is supposed to be in charge of agriculture?’
Understanding dawned on Zhu Ge.
The Cold Snow Official continued.
"As for the others, the Qingming Official oversees rites, the Guyu Official oversees records, the Mangzhong Official oversees procreation, the Summer Official oversees metalworking, the Bailu Official oversees astronomy, the Cold Dew Official oversees water management, the Frost Descent Official oversees purges, the Cold Snow Official—myself—oversees extinction, and... the New Year’s Eve Official, who oversees the very fate of the nation!"
Qingming and Guyu, Mangzhong and Summer, Bailu and Cold Dew, Frost Descent and Cold Snow.
Plus Jingzhe, and the one who oversees the nation itself!
Zhu Ge felt as though he had just been initiated into some incredible, world-altering secrets.
"Of course, you should know that we are merely holders of these posts. We may be colleagues, but we don’t share a unified ideology or common goal," the Cold Snow Official said with a smile.
"Though my purview is extinction, I cannot stomach the actions of people like that Raincoat Fisherman."
"My original destination was Nanyue Mianhuang. But when I came across what the Raincoat Fisherman was doing, I couldn’t just stand by and watch. However..."
The Cold Snow Official looked at Zhu Ge, then threw his head back and drained his bowl of wine in one go. "Haha! But it seems this world still has righteous men whose passion hasn’t cooled. That calls for a toast!"
With just one bowl of wine, a blush crept onto the Cold Snow Official’s face, and his voice grew thick with drink. "The ten officials of the Human Race were meant to lead our people, but now, the institution exists in name only. Only the Jingzhe Official still collects his taxes from the world. It’s truly pathetic."
Zhu Ge said nothing in response. He simply glanced down at the wine in his bowl and took a tiny sip.
This Cold Snow Official, a man of unfathomably high Cultivation, was drunk after a single bowl. Zhu Ge worried that if he drank a full bowl himself, his body might just explode.
And yet, after that one small sip went down, Zhu Ge started to have his doubts.
’This is just regular fruit wine!’
’It tastes like it’s only five or six percent alcohol, more like juice, really.’
Zhu Ge raised his bowl, examining the contents.
’It’s actually delicious, like freshly squeezed juice.’
"Alas, it’s just plain fruit wine," the Guyu Official said from the side, his face a mask of misery. "I gathered it myself from a special place. A normal seven- or eight-year-old child could drink four or five bowls of it, but this guy’s tolerance is so poor he gets drunk off one."
’His tolerance is that bad...?’ Zhu Ge’s expression was strange.
He then asked, "Since you both witnessed the Raincoat Fisherman’s actions firsthand, why did you let him go on?"
Xianxian!
Sui Niang!
The mother and daughter had suffered such a wretched fate. Even though Zhu Ge had avenged them, his hatred for the Raincoat Fisherman was bone-deep.
"It wasn’t like that," the Guyu Official said, shaking his head. The next moment, he lifted the lantern from his shoulder and gave it a casual swing.
In the next second, the entire world before Zhu Ge’s eyes began to rewind like a film reel.
Zhu Ge practicing his techniques, Zhu Sisi’s breakthrough, Liu Jianjian, the Long Fern Pigs...
The past events of the valley flickered to life before his very eyes.
"I am a rememberer, an observer. I cannot be an interferer. Alas..." the youth said, his face etched with sorrow. "Right, you may call me the True Monarch of the Lantern. I am a dual cultivator of the Shi Family and Immortal Family paths. The Cold Snow Official is known as True Monarch Minmian, a dual cultivator of the Immortal Dao and the Sword Dao."
’The Guyu Official, the True Monarch of the Lantern!’
’The Cold Snow Official, True Monarch Minmian!’
Zhu Ge committed their titles to memory.
Though, at the moment, he didn’t quite understand what "True Monarch" signified.
"Then, if I may be so bold, what are your plans now, True Monarchs?" Zhu Ge asked, looking from True Monarch Minmian to the True Monarch of the Lantern.
The already intoxicated True Monarch Minmian let out a soft laugh and abruptly rose to his feet.
"Annihilate Nanyue Mianhuang. Leave no inhuman descendant alive."
True Monarch Minmian radiated a murderous aura, his earlier affability completely vanished.
In an instant, the very sky and earth seemed to shift in color.